Review of Oldboy (2013) by Todd S — 23 Aug 2014

Spike Lee's remake of Oldboy is lackluster compared to the original. I would've tried to think of it as its own, but it's the exact movie, there was changes here and there, but not enough to make me think that it's trying to have a different story on its own, which makes it predictable.

Another problem is that Josh Brolin was already buff before he got captured, so why didn't they make him skinny or fat? Ok he's a little fat, but that was his stomach that was fat, and when he exercise for many years, only his stomach looks different, not the arms.

Speaking of buff, the fight scene where he fights a lot of people, he does get hurt, but not to the point where I think he's going to die like in the original, it was like no one can stop him because they just stand there and just wait for a guy to come and attack him, one by one.

The next problem is that when they let Joe go after many years, he does find the umbrella girl and chase after it which is fine, when he finds a home to place, the first thing he did was to look for the person that took him there.

That's understandable, but, he should be looking for his daughter too, it's been many years and he hasn't think that he should find her? It made no sense to me. The acting is good, but it's not as good as the original, I was surprised the script or Spike Lee didn't let Sharlto Copley to go over the top in this movie, but kept calm, I wish they did however, it would at least give me some entertainment.

I'll admit that it does kept the grimness of the original, but that's not enough to save this movie. Oldboy was a pointless remake that never should've been made, and Spike Lee didn't made any passion for this movie, just the violence.